


postscript:

by InvadingThoughts



Series: the kids aren't alright (they'll get there one day though) [1]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Agender Character, Agender Gavin, Alternate Universe - Grand Theft Auto Setting, Backstory, Basically, Character Study, Crimes & Criminals, Deaf Character, Fake AH Crew, Multi, Pre-Fake AH Crew, Swearing, Trans Female Character, Trans Jack, Trans Male Character, Trans Ray, future ot7 - Freeform, how the crew got together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-07
Updated: 2016-09-07
Packaged: 2018-08-13 14:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7980655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InvadingThoughts/pseuds/InvadingThoughts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A brief glance behind him, a hesitant step forward and an exhausted sigh; it all leads to Ray meeting his best friend. </p><p>(So what are you meant to do when you meet a murderer in an alleyway at three am? Not befriend them, that's for sure. But then again, Ray's never been one for following rules)</p>
            </blockquote>





	postscript:

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a prequel to another one of my fics called addendum:, although this can also be read as a stand-alone fic.

A brief glance behind him, a hesitant step forward and an exhausted sigh; it all leads to Ray meeting his best friend. The boy is drenched in blood, standing stock still in the middle of an alleyway, bodies littering the floor around him. And, when Ray meets his gaze, there's something akin to panic in his eyes, almost as if he’s unsure as to what he’s done.

> _(So what are you meant to do when you meet a murderer in an alleyway at three am? Not befriend them, that's for sure. But then again, Ray’s never been one for following rules)_

Michael crumbles under his touch when he reaches out for the boy, body sagging as if Satan is desperately trying to pull him under. He lets out a sound- something so broken and vulnerable that it makes Ray cringe involuntarily- but he lets the other manoeuvre him like clay.

“Hey kid.”

> _“...Yeah?”_

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, happens to the best of us.”

Michael comes home with Ray that night. He sleeps in the spare bedroom, tucked up underneath the mountains of blankets that Ray throws at him. He doesn’t talk at all. He eats breakfast slowly, a bowl of cereal that gets soggier with each passing minute. He doesn’t leave. Ray’s not sure that he actually has anywhere to go.

Ray ignores him most of the time, avoids touching him. He doesn’t ask questions about why, or what, or who. He doesn’t ask Michael his name, or his backstory either. He tells the boy that he’s leaving for two weeks for something that Michael doesn’t need to know about. He also tells Michael to stay as long as he likes.

When Ray gets back two weeks later, Michael is asleep on the couch- drooling and practically hanging off the edge- but he’s still there.

So they stay like that and it works. Ray lets a boy he doesn’t know live with him, he lets Michael eat his food and watch his television and cry in his spare bedroom at night. In return, Michael doesn’t slit his throat with one of his kitchen knives. Michael doesn’t steal his television and sell his Adder for the money to get out of this hellish city.

It takes him two months for him to learn Michael’s name.

“Ray?”

> _“What.”_

“It’s Michael, by the way. At least now you can stop calling me kid since I’m fucking older than you.”

> _“Whatever, if that’s what you wanna tell yourself so you can fall asleep at night.”_

Strangely enough, it's oddly satisfying to not be alone anymore. It's been two and a half years since his service, back when his smiles never actually met his eyes and everyone else thought they knew what was best for him without asking first. Having Michael in the apartment- being able to climb out of his bed to hover at Michael’s door if only to hear him breathing- it settles him.

He missed this. And sometimes- after he hasn't slept for a few nights and after he hits his bong- Ray can even pretend that it's Short Shot in his spare bedroom, fucking smiling in his sleep like usual.

So they last about another three months. And then Ray finds- and brings home- another stray.

Gavin catches them off guard, all by pressing a knife into the hollow of Michael’s spine with a hand curled around his throat for added measure.

> _(Michael’s eyes flash with panic the second he feels the blade against his spine. Ray, at first, assumes it’s something to do with his past. The past that he specifically doesn’t ask about. But later, when the adrenaline has faded from his blood stream and he can think more clearly, he understands. Michael didn’t think that Ray would help him. He legitimately believed that Ray would just let Gavin kill him._
> 
> _Something about that thought makes Ray uncomfortable.)_

Gavin wants their wallets. They want their phones and their car keys too. They want the gun that’s tucked into Michael’s pants and the pink sniper rifle that’s slung across Ray’s back. They also want Ray to stop staring at them, _“Stop looking at me, you twat!”_ They want Ray to stop moving, they want Ray to let go of their wrist. They want the hand that’s curling around their throat to let go.

Gavin wants Ray to stop strangling them. Funnily enough, Michael also shares the sentiment.

Very quickly, Ray decides that Gavin is a very demanding person.

But Gavin falls into their life very quickly. They're running from someone, that much Ray can easily determine. Flustered looks over shoulders, adamant refusals to go anywhere in public and red-rimmed eyes that stare back unblinkingly (Almost as if Gavin is challenging him somehow. Daring him to ask. Ray doesn't ask.)

It's like Michael all over again, although this time, Gavin whispers their name the second they cross the threshold of Ray’s (& Michael’s) apartment. They want to stay, want to find a home in a crappy two bedroom apartment like Michael did. And Ray hates that, hates that when he looks at Gavin he can see his own frightened face staring back, or Michael’s panicked face looking at him. And he hates that he lets another weakness into his life, into his home- as if one wasn't enough.

So it didn't take two months for Ray to learn Gavin's name, but it does take two months for Ray to learn Gavin's agender. And Ray almost wants to tell Gavin about himself when he finds out, but he doesn’t. He can't.

 

**Definition of Agender:**

“A person who does not have a specific gender identity or recognisable gender expression.”

> **_Used in a sentence:_** “They find out that Gavin is _agender_ by pure chance, and all thanks to Geoff ‘Lazer’ Ramsey; aka the person that Gavin is running from.”

**Definition of Threat:**

“A person or thing likely to cause damage or danger.”

> **_Used in a sentence:_ ** “It is well known that Ramsey is a _threat_ , one that Ray tries to shoot the second that he meets him.”

**Definition of clemency:**

“The disposition to show forbearance, compassion, or forgiveness in judging or punishing”

> **_Used in a sentence:_ ** “Gavin is the only reason that Ramsey shows Ray _clemency_ , because killing your only lead is the equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot; Ramsey needs Narvaez to get to Free, simple.”

Ray offers to get Gavin out of the city. _Gavin refuses._ Michael offers to slit Ramsey’s throat. _Gavin refuses._ Ray offers to blackmail Ramsey. _Gavin refuses._ Michael offers to listen to Gavin's problem. _Gavin accepts._

And Ray is half a second away from leaving. He almost a locks himself in his bedroom- with his headphones on, music playing loud- because he _doesn't ask._ The past stays in the past; getting personal makes you weak.

> _(Michael was the one who asked, he knows that. But it feels like he's cheating, like he's reading the answer to a question in his test off of one of the posters on his classroom’s wall. Guilty by association. Guilty thanks to another's stupidity.)_

But Michael grips his elbow. And Michael pulls him down onto the couch. And Michael seems to know him well enough now to know that Ray doesn't do personal. So Michael gives him an excuse to stay. And so he stays.

Gavin ran from Ramsey because they stupidly fell in love with him; also, to make things even more complicated, they also fell in love with his right-hand woman, Jack Pattillo, too.

Ah… a love triangle. _Great_.

Michael:

> _“Ah. That’s real rough, buddy.”_

Ray:

> _“You... didn't think to tell them this? At all? You just left?”_

Gavin:

> _“Hey, they're bloody terrifying! And! And! They're banging each other too! So they're not gonna want me there messing everything up.”_

Ray doesn't deal in love triangles; he doesn't deal in unrequited love and the fear of rejection. So Ray leaves Gavin to Michael, and a month later Michael manages to convince Gavin to talk to Ramsey- at the very least just once. This is something that Ray can work with though, so he contacts the boss of Los Santos and they meet him in a dodgy car park in front of a 24/7 convenience store.

Thus, Ray is formally introduced and enlisted into the Fake Ah Crew.

And thus, Ray finds two more strays to bring home.

Geoff goes from tough and terrifying to childish and crude within weeks. Gone is the boss of Los Santos; only to be replaced by a man that cries when Michael makes him watch titanic and someone who absolutely refuses to go to the reptile exhibit at the zoo when Gavin asks. Ray catches himself watching Geoff sometimes, a frown etched into his brow.

Geoff isn't anything that he expected. Neither is Jack, really.

Jack doesn't hesitate to let them know she's transgender, right from the start. She picks apart their reactions and in that moment, decides whether they're family material or not.

> _(Ray’s sure, that the safety of both his and Michael's place in the crew- their life, too- rested solely in Jack’s hands in that moment. She was the one who decided if there was going to be a problem between them... if they could stay. Not Geoff._
> 
> _She's also so unapologetic about who she is that Ray can't help but envy her confidence.)_

Jack is home; she's an ugly Christmas sweater in August and a besra parked on the beach. She's a Hawaiian shirt tucked into shorts and passive aggressive attempt to get Gavin to get his driver's license. She's also fingernails lightly trailing across bare skin and hugs that last a bit longer than necessary.

Ray falls in love with her first. Then Michael. And then Gavin and Geoff, both of them at the same time.

He understands now why Gavin ran.

> _(But... Ray has short legs, a lack of stamina and a strong prejudice against all physical exercise which ends up meaning that Ray doesn't follow in Gavin's footsteps.)_

Instead, he does what he does best and doesn't ask. He doesn't ask if Michael craves his touch, he doesn't ask if Geoff feels butterflies in his stomach when they hang out, he doesn't ask if Gavin wants to go on a date with him and he doesn't ask if Jack wants to kiss him.

He also doesn't ask to move in, but Geoff takes care of that one for him.

“I’m not moving.”

> _“A two bedroom apartment is too small for all of us, Ray.”_
> 
> _“Three of us can't sleep on the couch, Ray. There's no bloody room.”_
> 
> _“You're already a part of the crew, boy. Plus, living in the penthouse means no paying rent.”_
> 
> _“We miss having you around all the time, plus at least we know that you're safe if you live here with us.”_

Gavin goes back home and Michael is a traitor. He moves in as soon as Geoff and Jack offer. Then it's just him, alone in an apartment that feels wrong without the others in it.

So Ray goes out and purposely finds another stray to fill the emptiness.

Ryan is underneath the Los Santos pier, washing the blood off of his hands and arms in the salt water. He doesn't hear Ray approaching him, he doesn't hear Ray clear his throat and he doesn't hear him asking why the Vagabond doesn't just use a _fucking_ _sink like every other criminal in Los Santos, what the fuck dude._

Mainly because Ryan can't hear _anything_.

And Ryan isn't as easy as Gavin and Michael were, it takes time and work for Ray to convince him to come home with him (No, not like _that_.) Two months of an empty spare bedroom, two months of Michael trying to convince him to move into the penthouse and two months of trying not to kiss Jack (or any of them, really) whenever he sees them.

It's aggravating and it's draining, really.

It's also… accidentally falling asleep on the couch in the penthouse and waking up in Michael’s bed, with the man himself there cuddling him like an octopus.

It's also… waking up in the morning- after living alone for two months- to find the Vagabond cooking eggs in his kitchen.

It's fucking whiplash. Ray doesn't know why he enjoys it so much.

He moves into the penthouse two weeks later.

Jack presents him with his own ugly Christmas sweater that day, demanding that he puts it on right in front of her. Geoff nods at him before he goes to sleep that night, his words of appreciation unspoken but understandable. Gavin climbs into his bed twenty minutes later and they don't even bother to wait until he's asleep before they wrap their arms around him. Ryan cooks waffles for them all the next morning all while wearing his Vagabond mask and Geoff’s ‘kiss the chef’ apron, he looks utterly ridiculous.

And Michael kisses him. And when they finally pull apart- gasping for a desperate breath- Michael grins at him, practically glowing as he whispers into Ray’s neck.

“Hey kid.”

> _“...Yeah?”_

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, happens to the best of us.”

 

 

> **_(Postscript:_ **
> 
> _“Hey, Geoff?”_  
>  **_“What?”_ ******__  
> _“You do realise I'm still going to keep my apartment though, right?”_  
>  **_“Heh, yeah I know.”_ ****_  
> _**_“Okay. Good.”_  
>  )


End file.
